Romansh language

Romansh language, German Rumantsch, also called Grishun, or Grisons, Romance language of the Rhaetian group spoken in northern Italy and Switzerland, primarily in the Rhine Valley in the Swiss canton of Graubünden (Grisons). Since 1938 Romansh has been a “national” language of Switzerland for cantonal, though not federal, purposes; a referendum in 1996, however, accorded it semiofficial status. Romansh occurs in two dialectal forms, Sursilvan (spoken on the western bank of the Rhine) and Sutsilvan (spoken on the eastern bank). The earliest written material in Romansh is a Sursilvan text dating from the early 12th century. See alsoRhaetian dialects.

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group of Romance dialects spoken in Switzerland and northern Italy, the most important of which are two dialects, Sursilvan and Sutsilvan, that constitute the main dialects of the Romansh language. Other Rhaetian dialects are Engadine, Ladin, and Friulian.

federated country of central Europe. Switzerland’s administrative capital is Bern, while Lausanne serves as its judicial centre. Switzerland’s small size—its total area is about half that of Scotland —and its modest population give little indication of its international...

...in Switzerland. Thus, one of the country’s distinctive features is the variety of its languages. The Swiss constitution recognizes German, French, and Italian as official languages. Since 1996 Romansh (Rhaeto-Romance), a linguistic relic preserved in the mountainous regions between the Gotthard massif and the eastern Alps, has had official status at the federal level for communicating with...